Sweden Gender Pay Gap Reporting: What You Need to Know

To find the full text of the global pay reporting law in Sweden, refer to the  Discrimination Act (2008:567).

Under the Swedish Discrimination Act, there are currently no direct fines for non-compliance with pay equity reporting requirements. However, if an employer fails to comply, the Swedish Equality Ombudsman can issue a compliance order. If the employer still fails to adhere to the order, they can then be fined.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive will introduce stricter regulations and potentially higher penalties for non-compliance. These penalties will be determined by each Member State, including Sweden, but are expected to be substantial. The severity and duration of non-compliance will be considered when determining the penalty, with stricter penalties for repeated offenses.

This is not addressed by the Swedish Discrimination Act. Often employers in Sweden report by legal entity, as that is the employer. We advise you to confirm with your legal team.

There is no specific snapshot period required. Syndio provides Global Pay Reports customers with detailed guidance on which employees and pay metrics to include in the report.

The pay gap requirement in Sweden focuses primarily on gender. The reporting requirements and metrics are designed to assess and address the gender pay gaps within organizations. This will also be the case with the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

While the law doesn’t explicitly require reporting on race/ethnicity pay gaps, many organizations also analyse race and ethnicity gaps as part of their pay transparency strategy, where it is permitted by law.

Syndio’s PayEQ solution allows you to analyse pay equity and opportunity gaps across multiple dimensions, including race, gender, ethnicity, age, disability, and more. This provides a comprehensive understanding of how different groups are affected by your policies and practices.

Syndio provides software and expert professional services to help companies  comply with pay equity, pay reporting, and pay transparency regulations. Syndio helps you analyse, remediate, explain, and report on pay gaps so you can stay on top of compliance in Sweden. Learn more: https://synd.io/global-pay-reporting/.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive will impact pay gap reporting requirements for every EU Member State, including Sweden. The Swedish Ministry of Labor and Employment’s draft legislation transposing the Directive was made available in May 2024.  

Syndio has a comprehensive set of EU Pay Transparency Directive solutions to help you prepare for and comply with the Directive’s reporting and pay transparency requirements.

The law in Sweden analyses pay gaps, not pay equity. What’s the difference? 

An unadjusted pay gap (also called an “uncontrolled pay gap”) is the difference between the median or mean pay of two groups, such as men and women.

• Median pay gap: Imagine lining up all the earnings for two groups of employees (e.g., men and women) from lowest to highest. The median pay gap is the difference between the middle earnings in each line. It’s a good indicator of typical pay differences.
• Mean pay gap: This compares the average earnings of each group. However, it can be skewed by extremely high or low earners.

Pay equity, or the adjusted pay gap, accounts for factors that can legitimately explain differences in pay, such as performance ratings, tenure with the company, or location.

The median and mean pay gaps provide valuable insights, but they don’t tell the whole story. There may be legitimate reasons for pay differences between employees. The adjusted pay gap (pay equity) accounts for these factors, revealing whether a pay disparity truly exists (which is unlawful in many countries) so you can take corrective action. Syndio’s PayEQ software is the trusted solution for global enterprises to rapidly identify, address, and prevent pay disparities.